


Witchers Don't Have Soulmates

by An_Actual_Rat



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Body Swap, Fluff, Hurt Jaskier | Dandelion, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Jaskier | Dandelion, Kidnapping, M/M, Post-Episode: S01E06 Rare Species, Protective Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Soft Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Soulmates, ciri knew all along, geralt doesn't think he has a soulmate, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23453299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/An_Actual_Rat/pseuds/An_Actual_Rat
Summary: Geralt was convinced that he didn't have a soulmate. He figured witchers just didn't have one when his didn't help him when he was a child. However, years later, after he and Jaskier parted ways during the dragon hunt, he was forced to change that thought when Jaskier got kidnapped.Or each person has one chance to switch bodies with their soulmate.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 18
Kudos: 664





	Witchers Don't Have Soulmates

“Tell me the story again, mother, please.”

A young boy sat next to his mother on her bed, cuddling close to her side as she got ready to tell him a bedtime story. It was rare that she would agree to this, as she was usually too tired at night and would want to immediately go to bed, but when she did agree, the boy always had one story in mind.

“Again? Aren’t you getting sick of it yet? Don’t you want to hear a new tale? A more interesting one? Surely you know this one word for word by now,” his mother teased. 

“No, I want to hear it again! Please!”

“Alright.”

The boy grinned up at his mother as she began, his eyes lit up in wonder as he listened to every word. It was true that she had told him the same one time and time again, but he could never seem to get sick of it. It fascinated him.

“Once upon a time, in a town far far away, a young girl lived in a rundown house with her poor family. Her mother was a housewife, and her father was a merchant who never seemed to sell as much as he had always hoped. They did not have much money, but they did have each other, and that was enough for them. They were happy; content.”

“But then the bad man came,” the boy interrupted.

“He sure did,” his mother said, smiling down at her son. “He rode into town on his horse, claiming that he was a noble from a town on the other side of the continent. He told the people that he was in search of a bride, but so far he had no luck in finding the perfect match for him. That was when he laid eyes on the girl.”

“He proposed to her and she said no!” The boy continued.

“Yes, and that made him very angry. See, she was waiting for true love, and she did not think she would find that with this stranger. However, he would not take no for an answer and he decided to kidnap her. He took her away from her family and forced her into hiding in a house in a place of the woods she had never seen before. It was clear to her that he was not the noble he claimed to be, but that mattered not. She was stuck with no way out, as he had tied her up to prevent escape.”

“From her position, she could see outside the window nearby,” the boy said, “and as she looked out, she saw a shooting star pass by the night sky.”

“Indeed she did. When that shooting star flew across the darkness, she knew it could possibly be her last chance to wish for a miracle. After all, a wish from a shooting star is bound to come true, right?”

“Yes!” the boy grinned. “She wished to be saved!”

“And do you know what happened next?”

“A light surrounded her body and she switched bodies with a prince from the kingdom near to the house!” 

His mother nodded. “She switched bodies with the prince, and while she was confused, she decided to write down everything that she could remember on a piece of paper that was sitting on top of his desk in his room. She didn’t know her exact location, but she could tell her story and try to ask for more help. When she got everything she needed written down, roughly five minutes later, she switched back. She found herself staring into the eyes of the man who kidnapped her as he was shaking her body, yelling at her for acting strangely.”

“Because the prince was in her body and the man didn’t know that, so he was mad that she was acting strangely.”

“Yes, the prince was very confused as to why he was in the body of a woman, especially one tied up and at the mercy of an older man. Fortunately, he recognized this man as a problematic townsperson that had been getting in trouble with his guards for many years now. He knew where to go once he switched back to his own body. Taking his knights with him, he hunted down the house and rescued the girl.”

“He helped her and they realized that they must be soulmates!” The boy exclaimed.

“Soulmates, yes. They realized that the shooting star had granted the girl the power to switch bodies with her soulmate to ask for help. It gave her the chance to escape that man and lead into a happier life. However, this star was more powerful than she could have thought because from that day forth, everybody had the chance to call upon their soulmate once during their life. The shooting star saw that there was a lot of pain in the world and people going about without the loves of their lives, so it decided to grant people this gift to find the one they would be happiest with. It gave soulmates to the world.”

The boy clapped at the end of the story, joyous at the fact that it had a happy ending. “I can’t wait to find my soulmate!”

“Yes, but make sure you only use your one chance to call upon them when you really need it. You don’t want to waste it and then actually need it later in a dire situation like the girl needed hers.”

“But what if that never happens? What if I never have to use it?”

“Well, then you will know when it is time to call them anyway. Besides, they might call upon you first, and then you’ll know them and still have yours left.”

The boy loved this story with all of his heart. He could not wait to find his soulmate, but he would take into account his mother’s words and save his gift for when it was needed. He knew it was important, even if he didn’t know the full extent as to why at such a young age. 

“Alright, it’s time to go to bed,” his mother said as she stood up. The boy followed her out of her room and into his own. He laid down, and as she bent down to tuck him in and kiss his forehead goodnight, she whispered, “Sleep well, Geralt, my son.”

...

When Geralt was left by his mother to be taken in to become a Witcher, he thought that that was the right time to call upon his soulmate. Sure, he was still very young, which meant his soulmate probably was too, but he knew they would find a way to get to him and take him away from his fate… his destiny. 

As he was brought along to where he would start his training and begin the processes of becoming a witcher (which apparently so few ever even survived), he closed his eyes and wished with all his might that he would switch bodies with his soulmate. He wished that he could get away from this torment. He wished that he didn’t have to go through mutation after mutation and undergo training and more training. He wished that he didn’t have to go through this event that could easily kill him if he didn’t end up being witcher material.

When he opened his eyes, he was still in the same place. He was still on his way to his likely death. There was no saving him today. He would not get that second chance that his mother told him about so many times through that story. There was no prince to save him and no girl for him to eventually save. 

There was nobody for him to switch with, apparently.

It hurt to think about it. It hurt to know that he did not have a soulmate to call his own. He figured it was because he was destined to become a witcher. Maybe none of them had a soulmate, and that was why he did not have one either. 

From that moment on, he gave up on soulmates. Even as he came out of training and the mutations as a new man with incredible strength, he did not let that hope come back. There was nobody out there for him. He wouldn’t bother looking.

...

“Julian, you must never call upon your soulmate,” Julian’s mother said as the two of them ate lunch at the dining room table. His father was currently at work, making the money that supported their family so well. 

“But why?” Julian asked, confused as to why he was not allowed to call them. All of the other kids at school talked excitedly about meeting their soulmates. Why couldn’t he want to find his too?

“Because you need to think about what is best for the family first, and that is marrying you off to a rich girl. Your father and I want to be sure you are well off and able to support your children.”

Julian knew that it was less about that and more that his parents were greedy and only cared for more gold, but he did not call her out on it. It would only lead to more arguments. 

“But I want to find true love,” Julian protested, ever the romantic even at such a young age.

“Well, your father and I aren’t soulmates, and look how happy that has made us! Our parents married us off to each other, and we’re doing just fine!” 

Julian also knew that wasn’t true either. He could hear their arguments in the dead of night when they thought he was sleeping. They were nasty then, nastier than when they belittled each other when he was awake and sitting at the breakfast table with them. They were the furthest away from a happy marriage that he had ever seen. Julian did not want that. He did not want to marry somebody who would just drive him crazy for not being his soulmate.

“I want to find my soulmate,” Julian said.

His mother shook her head, unable to believe that her son was being so difficult. “You will marry whomever we pick out for you, and that is final.”

...

Since Julian’s own parents refused to tell him any of the details about soulmates, he was forced to go to others to figure everything out. His nanny, who had been watching him since he was a toddler, was fired eventually for telling him about how the switch only lasted a few minutes. She had told him that the longest anybody had ever switched was eight minutes, and the average was about four. It all depended on the situation, really, but even in more dire circumstances, the switch could not hold on for any longer than that.

Julian’s teachers over the years told him more. He learned about how he truly had to be wishing for his soulmate in order for it to work. Any intrusive thoughts about the subject would be ignored. No, it had to come from the center of his heart, according to his teacher when he was eleven.

It was while laying with a pretty girl in her bed when he was fifteen that he learned that soulmates tended to have similar lifespans, no matter what race they were. There was a time when elves were commonly soulmates with humans, and so those humans were lucky enough to be able to live longer in order to be with their partners. This lowered the chances of one soulmate dying long before the other. It prevented long term heartbreak as long as neither person was killed by other serious means first.

Every time he learned something new, it made him want his soulmate even more. He was tempted to call upon them right away, but he knew it was not the right time. He had to save it in case he was ever in need of help, and with his parents planning on marrying him off, it seemed like he would definitely need this gift sometime in the future. 

Not everything was sunshine and rainbows, though. He was learning more information, constantly daydreaming about who his soulmate would turn out to be, but soulmates were also tearing apart his family.

It all started when his father’s soulmate called him to help her get out of an abusive household with her own dad. She had been stuck there for years, always letting him intimidate her, but she finally grew bold and decided it was time to ask for help. Julian’s father went after her, helped her get out of that toxic place, and she moved into a house in their town. He had explained the situation to her about his marriage to his mother. He assured Julian’s mom that nothing was going to change. 

But Julian had seen his father sneaking out, and he was sure his mother had as well. The arguing only got worse from that point on.

...

“Julian, I would like you to meet Lady Vermillion,” his mother said. Standing beside her was a beautiful girl about his age. Her hair was as dark as the night and her skin was as pale as the snow. A green rivaling that of the luscious grass on a fresh spring day peered at him as he bowed to her, her plump, pink lips caught in a giggle. 

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Julian greeted her. This was to be the woman Julian would marry. He had just come of age, and his parents felt like it was time for him to settle down and start his own family. They wanted him to continue their lineage and bring them more money. His parents paid no attention to his wishes to play music instead. 

Julian knew it was his destiny to become a bard, not a married man. He wanted to travel the lands in search of a great story. He wanted to sing to those who would listen of great adventures and near death experiences. He wanted to find his soulmate, whom he would never get to be happy with if his parents got their way. 

That night, Julian pretended to be interested in Lady Vermillion. The two of them ate dinner with his parents, got to know each other out in the garden, and then she accompanied him to bed. She was still a beautiful woman, and he was still a man with many needs. 

In the dead of the night, with Lady Vermillion asleep in his bed and his parents thinking that they had persuaded him into giving in, Julian packed his bags, grabbed the lute he had been hiding from his parents for years, and headed out the doors. He didn’t know exactly where he planned on going, but he figured that he would know soon enough. 

No longer would he be the noble boy who was expected to follow whatever path that was set out by his parents. From that moment forth, he would make his own choices. He would forget the name that his parents had given him. He was no longer that boy. Now, he was a traveling bard, and he would go by the name “Jaskier.”

...

There were many times during his journey when Jaskier wanted to call out for his soulmate. When he had first found Geralt and followed him onto their first adventure together, he almost called out. However, something stopped him. Something told him that switching with his soulmate would not help him in that moment. 

He continued to follow the witcher, finding himself drawn to him again and again. He wrote songs, making both of them famous along the way, and Geralt grunted in annoyance. The two really had a great thing going.

Despite all of the frustrated looks the man sent him, Jaskier could not help but really like him. He felt safe around him, and he was never scared of him like other people were. He was starting to think that they could be great friends.

When Geralt agreed to protect him from angry husbands at the royal ball, Jaskier began to think that maybe Geralt was beginning to see him more as a friend than an acquaintance who didn’t leave him alone. He began to think that the two of them were going to be great together, and he knew then that he really wanted to take care of his witcher. He felt so sure of this that when the whole debacle with the child surprise happened, he didn’t even feel the need to call for his soulmate.

When he got attacked by the djinn, however, he was really tempted to call out, but he did not. He knew he was in safe hands with Geralt. Even though he had said some hurtful things, he knew the witcher would make sure he didn’t die. Regardless, his soulmate would not have been able to get to him in time to save him anyway. Geralt barely managed to get him to somebody who could help in time.

Jaskier tried not to think about why he felt so jealous when he saw Geralt with Yennefer. He figured it was just because he had known the man for so long and still hadn’t gotten him to talk to him or open up at all, and yet here was this woman figuring him out and making him feel. He convinced himself he was only jealous because he hadn’t made that much progress in trying to be proper friends. Yeah, that was it.

And then, when Geralt had said those horrible, horrible words to him, dismissing him without another thought, he was once again thinking of calling for his soulmate. He was about to reach out, but he decided against it at the last moment. What would they save him from? They would only come to him to find him heartbroken over another person. Wouldn’t that just make them feel bad to find out that their soulmate called for them because they wanted to get away from the pain that came from loving another man? He couldn’t do that to them.

Jaskier walked away, knowing that he had to let Geralt have his blessing. He would not be a burden to him any longer. He would stop wishing for the possibility of Geralt being his soulmate. After all, they were rumored to not even have one, and Jaskier should have accepted that rumor and not let his heart get torn into shreds.

...

Over the years, Jaskier had noticed that he had simply stopped aging. At first, when he was still traveling with the witcher, he hoped that that was a sign that he was meant to be soulmates with the man after all. However, now, he figured that he must be connected to some type of elf, fey, or, please no (he was done with magic), a sorcerer. 

That was why he still looked the same years later while he sat in a tavern, playing music for coin. He still sang of the witcher, as those were his most popular songs, but any newer song he wrote was empty of that adoration he once felt. Now all he felt was pain, but he knew that depressing ballads would not be as welcome in these taverns, especially when the patrons were drunk.

“Did you hear?” A man asked him from the stool next to him when he went to drink at the end of his performance.

“Hear what?” Jaskier asked.

“The witcher you were singing about has escaped from where he was being held in Cintra. The princess is supposedly gone as well, and nobody knows if either of them are still alive.”

So Geralt was finally going to find his child surprise. Well, Jaskier hoped she brought him more happiness than he could ever give him. Maybe he would finally see that the whole situation was not as bad as he made it out to be. He would see that it wasn’t as horrible as what he blamed Jaskier for. 

Whatever. It wasn’t like he truly cared anymore. He didn’t, he promised. 

...

“So have you found your soulmate yet?” Ciri asked Geralt as they made their way to the next town. The two had found each other in the woods, and Geralt felt it best to go travel far off from where they had met up. They needed to get away from those who wanted to hunt her. 

“Witchers don’t have soulmates,” Geralt said.

“Now, that can’t be right. Everybody has a soulmate, and I’m sure you do too. Have you even tried to call them?” 

“Hmm.”

He refused to answer, to which Ciri simply sighed. She was finding it hard to get to know Geralt at all, which frustrated her since she wanted to know everything that had happened and why he was now her destiny. She wanted to know everything about him, yet he had given her nothing to work with. 

“I think you have and it just didn’t work,” Ciri said. She watched as Geralt shifted uneasily for a second, and she knew that she was spot on. “Maybe that was because they hadn’t been born yet. You are going to be living for quite a long time.”

“Witchers don’t have soulmates,” Geralt repeated, putting an end to the conversation. Ciri huffed, but she kept quiet after that.

When they got into the next town, Geralt immediately went to rent them a room with two beds. It was getting late, and he could tell that Ciri was getting tired, so he would look for possible contracts tomorrow. As they entered, they could hear the room quiet down. He could smell the fear around them, but he paid it no mind.

Once he bought the room, he and Ciri went to head upstairs when they were stopped by a few drunks getting in their path.

“You’re in the way,” Geralt stated, once again annoyed.

“Look here, the Butcher has gotten himself a new companion. I see you replaced the bard with a new, fresh face,” one of the men said.

“Get out of the way.”

The two continued to taunt them, but Geralt quickly got sick of them. He roughly pushed them to the side to get through, pulling Ciri along before the drunks tried anything stupid. He led her upstairs to their room, and once they were safe behind the door, she turned on him.

“What were they talking about? Who is this bard?” Ciri asked, curious as to who else could possibly stand being around Geralt for so long. From what she had seen, everybody tended to stay far away from him, but if those men were correct in their statements that Geralt used to have another companion before her, that meant there was at least one person in the world other than herself that didn’t view him as a monster.

“It’s nothing,” Geralt said. 

“It doesn’t sound like nothing. This is not the first time I have heard somebody mention a bard around you, but I never thought that you actually had a friend or anything.”

“He’s not my friend.”

“He is totally your friend.”

Geralt sighed. “Maybe a long time ago I could have viewed him as a friend, but we had a falling out. I… said some things and he left.”

“So it was your fault.”

Geralt did not give her an answer.

“What if he was your soulmate?” Ciri asked.

“Witchers don’t have soulmates,” Geralt once again told her. 

“I don’t believe you,” Ciri said. “I think this bard is your soulmate and you just don’t know yet. I’m sure one day he’s going to call out to you, and when he does, you are going to go straight to him.”

“Even if that did happen, he’s bound to hate me now.”

“I doubt it. You tend to say things that you don’t mean, but I’m sure he knows you well enough if you were once friends to understand that you’re sorry.”

“Either way,” Geralt said, “we are not soulmates, and I am not going to be running after him.”

“We’ll see about that.”

...

There was a bounty on the princess’ head, but Jaskier did not think that fact would affect him in any way. Sure, there was news about those who were hunting her down in every town, but most places were welcoming and would never think about hurting such a young girl by turning her in. So far, Jaskier had not run into anybody looking for her, and even if he did end up finding somebody who wanted that money, he did not think that he would be harmed since he did not know the girl.

He was wrong.

It was common knowledge by now that Princess Cirilla had been seen traveling with Geralt. It was also common knowledge that Jaskier was the bard that once traveled with him as well. The hunters that Jaskier ran into certainly knew he was that bard.

He was walking towards the next town when he was ambushed by a group of an unknown number of people. He was grabbed from behind, his arms being forced behind him as his belongings, including his precious lute, was thrown to the ground and rummaged through by two of the men. The one who held onto him tied his arms behind his back, struggling as Jaskier tried his best to get away. However, another man came up in front of him and clocked him in the side of his head with the butt of his knife.

Darkness filled his vision. He swayed on his feet, not falling to the ground only because of the man’s tight grip on his arms as he was tied up. He tried to stay awake, tried to make an effort to get away, but he could not hold onto his consciousness any longer.

Jaskier woke up to find himself tied to a tree out in what he assumed to be the middle of the woods. Five burly men were at work in the campsite in front of him, getting everything set up for them to spend the night. 

His head hurt badly, especially in the spot that the man hit him. His arms hurt where they were tied, and the sharp pain in his leg told him that it was injured at some point when they dragged him there. In fact, his entire body was sore from being roughed up so much. 

“Good, you’re awake,” one of the men said when he saw Jaskier open his eyes.

“What do you want from me?” Jaskier asked, his voice hoarse.

“You’re our bait for the Butcher of Blaviken,” the man said. “We’re going to send him a message to tell him to come get you or else we’ll kill you.”

Jaskier barked out a sharp laugh. “Oh, that’s funny. He’s not going to come for me! Haven’t you heard? We don’t travel together anymore.”

“Oh, we’re sure he’ll come. He wouldn’t let his bard die so soon.”

Jaskier wasn’t sure of that, but he did not try to correct the man. That would only lead to more problems. For now, he focused on worrying about the fact that he was totally about to die right now. There was no way that Geralt was going to come for him, and he could not figure out a way to get out of these ropes, so this was going to be where he perished. 

Unless...

Jaskier had one last chance to save himself. Maybe if he called out to his soulmate, they would be able to get to him and somehow be able to save him. If they couldn’t help him themselves, they could possibly send somebody who could! This was it! This was the right moment!

Jaskier closed his eyes. He needed to concentrate without seeing these men setting up camp while he wished. He drew back into his mind, letting his heart be free as he wished to himself. He asked destiny to let him switch bodies with his soulmate.

Destiny responded.

There was no light surrounding his body like a lot of the origin stories mentioned. There was no indication to those surrounding him that he was switching at the moment. To them, it looked like he was simply closing his eyes to try to pretend nothing was happening. In his mind, though, Jaskier felt dizzy. He felt lightheaded, like he was quickly losing himself… until the feeling was suddenly gone. 

Opening his eyes, he found himself in the woods still, but not the ones he had been in before. The trees were different, and the men were gone. It was successful. Jaskier switched bodies with his soulmate.

He didn’t even need to look down to know his soulmate was fit. He could feel the new weight in his muscles. He could feel a lot of new sensations, really. They did not all feel completely normal or even entirely human. His sense of smell was more keen and he swore that he could hear everything from a mile away. His eyesight was sharp, and he thought that he could see a bug crawling on the tree many feet from him. Everything felt so strange.

Looking down at himself, Jaskier saw why his soulmate had such superior senses.

“Damnit,” Jaskier said, jumping right after at the deep tone coming out of his mouth. It was uncomfortably familiar. He did not want to accept it. How could it be possible that he would call out to his soulmate only for it to be the one person he knew would not want to come after him?

“Geralt?” A feminine voice called out. Turning around, Jaskier found himself staring at what had to be the child surprise. Cirilla looked just like how Jaskier remembered her mother. “Are you alright? You stopped packing up.”

Looking down, he found that Geralt had been in the process of putting away materials from their campsite. It was a stark contrast from what was going on with the men who kidnapped him, who were setting up when he switched in order to wait the days and nights away until what they hoped would be Geralt showing up. 

“Geralt?”

Ciri stood beside him, reaching out to place a hand on his arm. He stared at her with wide eyes, trying to think of what to say. He only had a few minutes to beg for help.

“How good are you at convincing Geralt to do something? Even if he didn’t want to do it?” Jaskier asked.

“Um, what?” Ciri looked confused for a moment before realization crossed her face. “Wait, are you his soulmate? Did you just switch bodies?”

“Yes, and I-”

“He wasn’t in any danger or anything to warrant wanting to call to you, which means you called for him! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Or did you just decide to call out?”

“Cirilla, I’ve been kidnapped essentially, and if Geralt doesn’t come to get me, they’re going to kill me! I’m too pretty to die, I’m sure you understand! Listen, I know he’s not going to want to come after me, but I need you to somehow convince him. Tell him I don’t care if he leaves again afterwards, just please help me,” Jaskier begged her. 

“Of course,” Ciri agreed, ignoring the fact that he knew who she was. “Why wouldn’t he want to come after you, though? I think he will want to help you. You can come travel with us! It would be so much fun, and we can show him that it’s a good thing to have a soulmate! He didn’t think he had one, until now I guess.”

“He won’t want to, I can promise you that. He and I had a falling out at some point in the past, and I’m afraid he isn’t that fond of me.”

“Oh. Oh! You’re the bard! The one who wrote songs about him!”

“Well, yes.”

“He’ll definitely come after you! You’ll see! He’ll-”

Whatever she was going to say after that, Jaskier wouldn’t know because he found himself fading out again until he was in his own body once more. His kidnappers were still working on making sure everything was set up properly. One stood near him, glaring down at him as if he had pissed him off somehow, before going back to what he was doing before. Only a few minutes had passed, but it had felt like a lifetime.

Now, all Jaskier could do was sit and hope Ciri would be able to convince Geralt to come save him.

...

“Are we leaving soon?” Ciri asked.

“Hmm,” Geralt said “yes, we just need to pack up.”

He began to pack up their supplies, listening to Ciri talk about whatever was on her mind. He wasn’t paying the best attention to it, if he was being honest. Lately, he was feeling more distracted, which was not good when it was his job to go out and hunt down monsters. 

It was while he was packing up that he felt the world tilt. He had to pause in his movements to try and regain his focus, closing his eyes to concentrate, but when he opened them, he found himself in a totally different place. Ciri was nowhere in sight, and there were unknown men setting up in front of him. When he tried to move in order to figure out what was going on, he found that he couldn't. Looking down, he saw that he was tied to a tree by thick rope, and he was too weak to break free from it. His clothes were different: bright in color and nowhere near anything he would ever be caught dead wearing. His strength was gone, replaced by the feeling of a weaker, human body free of any mutations. 

Had he just switched with somebody? Geralt couldn’t believe it, but it appeared as if he had a soulmate after all.

“Hey, you,” Geralt called out to the man nearest to him. His voice surprised him, as it held a familiar tone to his ears. Reevaluating himself, he found that he recognized the outfit he was wearing. It was one his bard favored greatly. The lute was gone, but that did not matter. He knew it was Jaskier that he had switched with.

“What is it?” The man sneered at him. 

“Why am I tied up?” Geralt asked, trying to pretend like he was still Jaskier in hopes of not setting them off to the fact that the bard called out to him. 

“Are you stupid? How could you have forgotten already? We just told you!” The man said.

“You guys hurt me pretty bad, I’m having a hard time remembering,” Geralt lied, hoping that they would buy it. 

“We told you! We’re going to use you as bait for that witcher! As soon as we get the word out that we have you, he’ll be on his way and we can kill him! If not, you die! Now, don’t ask again, we’ve got better things to do!”

The man went back to his task, and Geralt was left to contemplate his choices. Jaskier was in some serious danger right now, and he hadn’t even known it yet. He was not there to prevent him from being taken, and if Jaskier hadn’t wished for his soulmate, he still would not have known.

A few minutes passed, and Geralt knew that they would switch back very soon. He had to ask one last thing. “Where are we near? Where are you going to tell him to go?”

The man glared at him as he spat the name of a town that was close to where they were setting up camp. Geralt was relieved to find that the answer came just in time, for right afterwards he was back in his own body once again.

He found Ciri right next to him, giving him a knowing look. He shot an annoyed one back at her, knowing she was never going to let him forget this ever happened. Once she was sure he was in his right mind again, she spoke.

“Are we going after him?”

Geralt nodded before speeding up their packing, hurriedly making sure everything was secure before placing Cici onto Roach and climbing up himself. They took off, heading towards the town that he was told. 

“I told you so,” Ciri said as they started the journey. Geralt huffed, not wanting to listen to her gloat about how she had known all along that Jaskier would end up being his soulmate.

When they got to the town, they immediately headed to the nearby tavern to see if they could get any clues before blindly going after Jaskier. The moment they walked through the door, they were approached by the owner.

“Oh, witcher, you’re here! Thank goodness you’re here!” The owner said.

“What’s wrong?” Geralt asked, hoping he didn’t expect him to go after a monster when his soulmate was in trouble.

“Your bard was in town! The one that sings those songs about you! He was here! Oh, but he is gone now, he left towards another town.”

“Then why are you so panicked?” Geralt could not understand why the man was happy to see him like this when he had no idea what exactly was going on.

“Because he left, but we later found all of his belongings in the middle of the road out of town!” The owner went behind a counter in order to lift up Jaskier’s lute case. “We don’t know what happened to him, but a bard without his lute is not a good thing at all. We can only assume he is in danger.”

This was it. That was enough stalling. It was time to go get his bard. He instructed Ciri to stay there. She protested, but he did not want her getting hurt too, so he made her stay. He told her that she could watch over his lute to make sure it didn’t get stolen. She was reluctant, but she agreed to stay.

He went back outside, mounted Roach, and headed off into the woods in search of his soulmate.

...

Jaskier knew that he tended to talk way too much. He knew it was annoying to a lot of people. He couldn’t seem to help it, though, even when it only caused him more harm.

“Will you shut up?!” One of the men yelled when he got sick of Jaskier babbling to himself. It wasn’t his fault that he tended to talk to himself when he was nervous. It helped him calm down! 

Jaskier opened his mouth to say something else when he was met with a cloth being stuffed between his teeth instead. He was already bound, but now he was being gagged too. This was turning to be more of a sucky situation the longer it went on, and Jaskier did not appreciate it at all. The pain he felt kept escalating, especially when the men got bored. They liked to hit him, laugh at him, and made sure he knew who was in charge of the situation. His leg certainly had to be broken, and he would not be surprised if he had a concussion. When his arms were free of the ropes, he knew there would be some serious rope burns there, along with the few cuts the men had given him when he especially annoyed them. Bruises littered his body and every now and then when he coughed he could feel the trickle of blood escape down his chin.

Well, now he couldn’t cough, which was a horrible feeling all in itself. 

He hoped if Geralt was coming, he would do so soon. At the rate this was all going, he felt like he would end up dead rather quickly. He didn’t even want to think about how long it would have taken for Geralt to get to him if he didn’t know about the situation through the switch since the men had yet to even send out a letter to tell Geralt that they had him since they were still trying to figure out where he was currently.

Of course, that also meant that when Geralt did show up, he took them for surprise since they hadn’t expected him yet. They had no warning. No footsteps were heard, nor a whine from Roach or chatter from a little girl. The confrontation started suddenly, and none of them were prepared. One of the men was chilling near a thick expanse of the trees when a large silver sword lodged itself into his back. He made a choking sound, drawing the attention of the other four, before falling to the ground dead.

“The witcher!” One of them shouted as they all scrambled to gather their weapons. They were too slow, however. Geralt swept in and expertly killed them one by one. For a group so determined to bait and kill him, they did not put up a good fight. They were rather weak to be taking on a witcher. The last one tried to run, but Geralt caught up to him quickly, pinning him to a tree with his arm.

“Why are you here?” The man cried out.

“I’m here for him,” Geralt nodded his head towards Jaskier. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“But we hadn’t sent you a letter yet!”

Geralt did not warrant him a response. He plunged his sword into the man’s chest, swiftly killing him. Stepping back, he let the body drop down as he removed his sword and put it away.

Jaskier made a muffled sound, desperate to rush Geralt over to him in order to set him free. The witcher approached him, reaching up to take out the cloth. He patiently waited as Jaskier coughed and drew in much needed air. It was hard to use his nostrils when he had been panicking so much.

“Thank you, Geralt,” Jaskier croaked out as he was working on releasing the bard from the rope. The knot was strong, but not enough to keep Geralt from untying him. Once he was free, Jaskier dropped to his feet, where he immediately cried out in pain and slumped forward. 

“I got you,” Geralt said as he caught the man, pulling him into his arms and off of his broken leg. Jaskier didn’t protest as he was brought over to where Roach was waiting in the trees. He was carefully set up on top of the horse, both legs hanging off one side, before Geralt got up behind him and positioned them so that they could ride back to town without either of them falling off. They rode back quickly, Jaskier grunting in pain every now and then. Geralt wanted to be able to go slowly, to sit there and talk over everything they needed to discuss, but Jaskier needed to get to a healer in case anything serious was wrong. 

Along the way, Jaskier found himself growing tired. His body ached and Roach jostled him around a lot, but he found himself feeling safe in Geralt’s arms as he supported him. Soon enough, his eyes fully closed, and he was out like a light.

...

When he awoke, Jaskier found himself lying in an unfamiliar bed. He was in significantly less pain, but he could not bend his leg because it was in a weird splint to keep it straight. He tried to sit up, but he was gently pushed back down by a large hand.

“Don’t move too much,” Geralt said.

“Geralt?” Jaskier whispered, unable to make himself much louder. “You’re here?”

Geralt nodded before giving him a serious look. “Jaskier, listen. I need to apologize for what happened when we last parted. I should have found you and said this much sooner, but I was scared you wouldn’t want to hear it. I’m so sorry, Jaskier, I didn't mean those words.”

Jaskier stared at him for a moment before cracking an amused smile. “I never thought I would see the day that you said so many heartfelt words to me like that. I’m honored, truly.”

Geralt growled. “I’m serious, I do not see you as a burden. You leaving me alone would not be a blessing, and I certainly do not blame you for anything bad that has happened. In fact, you have brought me more happiness than I could have ever imagined. You’re my soulmate, Jaskier.”

“Geralt, I forgive you, and I could definitely get used to you telling me all of these mushy words more often. Very out of character, but I like it.”

Geralt shook his head, a smile on his lips. “You still talk too much.”

“Aha, but you’re talking more than me right now!” Jaskier laughed, clearing his voice more often in order to get out his words in a higher volume than merely a whisper. “You spoke paragraphs, Geralt, paragraphs! That’s longer than a single sentence! That’s even longer than your ‘hmms!’ I’m so proud of you! You should-”

Geralt cut him off by leaning down and pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. It was quick, but it did the trick. When Geralt pulled away, Jaskier had stopped talking.

“Like I said, you talk too much.”

Jaskier grinned up at him, reaching out to take his hand. “I could get used to you shutting me up, though.”

“Does that mean he’s going to be traveling with us once he’s all better again?” A voice asked from the doorway. The two of them turned to find Ciri waiting at the door, leaning against the frame. 

“How long have you been standing there?” Geralt asked.

“Long enough to see you two make up and embrace the fact that you’re soulmates. So is he?”

Geralt looked back at Jaskier. “Do you want to follow along again, my little lark?”

“Only if you want me to, darling,” Jaskier said.

Geralt grinned and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “No more parting ways. We’re in this together forever now.”

“Yay!” Ciri cheered as she came into the room, crawling into bed with Jaskier. “This is going to be so much fun! Geralt’s been training me on how to fight with weapons, and while that has been cool and all, he doesn’t talk much. With you there, we can actually conversate and maybe you could teach me how to play the lute and sing!”

“My lute!” Jaskier gasped, trying to sit up again. Once more, Geralt gently pushed him back down, forcing him to stay.

“Don’t worry, the tavern owner found it and kept it and we got it from him before coming to the inn. It’s sitting in Ciri’s room, where she should be right now,” Geralt told him.

“Awe, don’t be like that,” Jaskier said, “you can just join us and we can sit here and talk while my leg heals! You can tell me how much you love me while I tell Ciri stories of your past adventures because I know you haven’t told her anything.”

“Ooo, yes, please, let’s do that!” Ciri agreed. The two of them stared at Geralt, a pleading look in their eyes. Geralt had to admit that he liked seeing his soulmate laying with the girl he is beginning to see sort of like a daughter. It was cute, and he could not deny them a moment of storytelling when Jaskier was stuck in bed with nothing to do but think about his pain. 

So, he climbed into the bed with them, laying on Jaskier’s other side. He loosely held the bard while he focused all of his attention on Ciri as he told her story after story.

Geralt didn’t think he had a soulmate before, but now he could see that he never wanted to go back to the time when he was without one. He was going to enjoy his life with his bard and his princess. 


End file.
